More women moving in before marriage

Stigma of 'living in sin' fading

Published: 04/07/2013 at 10:25 PM

(CNN) — Taylor Spearnak met her boyfriend in 2002, during her third year of college, when they were both congressional interns in Washington.

A friend set them up, and they laughed for hours over cheap burgers and a terrible action movie. They kept the relationship going when they returned to their schools in Boston, and when they studied law at schools in different states.

In 2007, when they reunited in New York City, they decided it made sense for them to move in together, Spearnak said. They lived in one of the most expensive cities in the country, and had law school loans to pay off. They’d be busy as new law firm associates, and knew they’d be spending nights at each other’s apartments, anyway. Spearnak’s parents trusted them, and thought it was a smart decision.